SCIENCE 



h WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, PUBLISHING THE 



OFFICIAL NOTICES AND PROCEEDINQS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Friday, January 19, 1906. 



CONTENTS. 



The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — 



The Generic Concept in the Classification 

 of the Flowering Plants: Professob B. L. 

 Robinson 81 



Investigations and Commercial Tests in Con- 

 nection uiith the Work of an Engineering 

 College: Professor D. S. Jacobus 92 



Address before the Central Botanists: Pro- 

 fessor William Trei;ease 97 



The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 

 fessor F. N. Cole 101 



Scientific Books: — 



Publications of the Jesup North Pacific 

 Expedition: Dr. Franz Boas. Nebula to 

 Man:. Dr. W. J. Holland 102 



Societies and Academies: — 



New York State Science Teachers Associa- 

 tion: A. P. B. The Society for Experi- 

 mental Biology and Medicine: Dr. Wm. J. 

 GiES. The Society of Geohydrologists : 

 M. L. Fuller. University of Colorado 

 Soientifio Society: Professor Francis 

 Ramaley 108 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Mendelian Inheritance and the Purity of 

 - the Gametes : Professor E. B. Wilson. 

 The Logical Basis of the Sanitary Policy 

 of Mosquito Reduction: Professor John 

 B. Smith. Yelloio Fever and the Panama 

 Canal: Professor Vernon L. Kellogg. . . . 112 



Report of the Tenth Geological Expedition of 

 Eon. Charles H. Morrill: Professor Ebwin 

 Hinckley Barbour 114 



Report to the Trustees of the Elizabeth 

 Thompson Science Fund of Professor 

 Boveri's Researches: Professor Charles 

 S. MiNOT 115 



The Congress of the United States 116 



Scientific Notes and Neivs 117 



University and Educational News 120 



MSS. Intended for pnblication and books, etc.. Intended 

 tor review shonld be sent to the Editor of Science, Qarri 

 eon-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE GENERIC CONCEPT IN THE CLASSI- 

 FICATION OF TEE FLOWERING 

 PLANTS.^ 



That many of the most useful scientific 

 terms defy accurate definition is a fact 

 which can not be denied. Indeed, the re- 

 cent progress of science, at least in biology, 

 has been away from, rather than towards, 

 any dogmatic form of statement. Many 

 terms, which fifty years ago were smugly 

 defined in the text-books and manuals of 

 the time, are now, when viewed in the light 

 of the developmental theory and from the 

 diverse points of view of modern investiga- 

 tion, either well-nigh obsolete or have, 

 through a gradual accretion of varying 

 meanings, come to express only the vaguest 

 generalities. "This change is by no means 

 a matter to be deplored. It is, in fact, an 

 evidence of advancing thought. Loose and 

 general terms are giving place to more 

 technical and specific ones at about the 

 same rate that the older and vaguer con- 

 cepts are being supplanted by the more 

 refined distinctions of modern science. 



In some cases, however, the wide use- 

 fulness and general familiarity of terms 

 have made them, notwithstanding some 

 vagueness, far too valuable to discard and 

 difficult to replace; and in these cases it is 

 a matter of great importance that scientists 

 should from time to time examine such 

 terms theoretically in order that they may 

 be applied with reasonable uniformity. An 

 excellent example in point is the word 



'■ Address of the vice-president and chairman of 

 Section G— Botany— at the New Orleans meeting 

 of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science. 



